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The former England manager may be remembered by many for his ‘I’d love it’ rant in 1996, but that should not obscure the remarkable nature of his football careerKevin Keegan, who has died aged 75, is the only British player to win the Ballon d’Or twice, was the star of Liverpool’s first European Cup-winning team, a messianic figure at Newcastle United as a player and coach, forging a team so memorable that Fifa’s president wrote to commend him, and was the captain and then manager of the England men’s national team. And yet, as Keegan would ruefully reflect, he will principally be remembered by many for an emotional outburst that precipitated Newcastle’s historic failure in a Premier League title race, a TV interview which presaged the coming era of the modern game.Keegan’s “I’d love it” rant of April 1996, directed at Alex Ferguson, became a meme before the modern meaning of the word and social media even existed, repeatedly played on Sky Sports and becoming indelibly marked in the minds of multiple generations, many not even born when it occurred. It frequently tops polls as the most memorable moment in Premier League history and foreshadowed an era where digital clips and personality narratives would dominate football coverage.There is a danger, however, of reducing Keegan’s life to a series of ever-more emotional explosions, of which there were many, such as his punch-up with Leeds United’s Billy Bremner in the 1974 Charity Shield. For that would obscure the extraordinary nature of his achievements and the fact he was arguably the most charismatic modern English footballer; more eloquent than David Beckham and Paul Gascoigne and more passionate than Bobby Moore. He had a rare gift for inspiring players and almost everyone who interacted with him at his best came away uplifted.Still, Keegan’s meltdown on TV, where he took issue with Ferguson’s supposed “mind games” in suggesting Leeds players would go easy on Newcastle during a tight title run-in with Manchester United, became a defining moment. “Strangers shout ‘love it’ to me from car windows,” wrote Keegan in his autobiography. “Autograph hunters tell me they would ‘love it’ if I could sign their pieces of paper. When I go to charity events I am often asked to sign photographs showing me in that classic pose: headphones on, finger jabbing, blazing eyes. Those pictures tend to be auctioned for a lot more money than the ones where I am playing for England or any of my clubs.”Keegan claimed to be relaxed about the characterisation, skewed though it was, perhaps because more than any English footballer before he had maximised football’s commercial and media opportunities and accepted the respective bouquets and brickbats that ensued. Even before that meltdown, he would be best remembered by many in the 1970s for his excruciating bike crash on Superstars, a TV show which pitted athletes from different sports against each other in unfamiliar disciplines. Sprawled across the cycle track, Keegan’s bare flesh was ripped red raw by the gravel. Most remember the drama but few recall that, showing characteristic pig-headed determination, he got back on the bike, bloodied and bandaged, for a rematch, which he won before winning the entire contest.Keegan was born in Armthorpe, Doncaster, to Doris and Joe, a war veteran Durham miner who had migrated south in search of work at Markham colliery. His upbringing echoed Monty Python’s Yorkshiremen sketch, only his memories were authentic, a throwback to a different century. Their terrace house “had a detached outhouse where we washed. Our bath was an old zinc tub and the toilet was at the foot of the garden and we never had electricity until I was 10 and we moved into a council house in Balby.”Keegan’s ascent to the peak of the game’s elite was unforeseen, few recognising his talent early on, most dismissing him as too small. He always credited Sister Mary Oliver, the nun who ran his Catholic primary school football team and who refereed with a crucifix around her neck, as being as important to him as a mentor as Bill Shankly was. “Kevin’s football must be encouraged,” she wrote in a school report, which gave him immense self-belief.Doncaster Rovers rejected him and he started work at Peglers Brass Works at 16, playing for their football team but only in the reserves and also for a pub team on Sundays, where he fortuitously played against a Scunthorpe scout, Bob Nellis, who got him a trial at the struggling Third Division club. Keegan referred to himself as a “mongrel” and “weasel” and the “least-talented” Ballon d’Or winner, and despite impressing at Scunthorpe it was still a major shock when Shankly, the man he regarded as a second father and progenitor of his success, took him to Liverpool. Shankly told him: “You’re not just a great player – you’re one of the great players!” It seemed an unlikely boast but Keegan scored on his Liverpool debut and was never dropped thereafter. He would inherit from Shankly comparable motivational skills.Though reclusive, Keegan also had a streak of extrovertism, embracing every aspect of the game’s growing commercial opportunities, from his famous Brut advert to appearances on Top of the Pops, where his single Head Over Heels in Love reached the top 40. Though he enjoyed standing out, he admitted he would never have got away with his trademark bubble perm in the old-school Liverpool dressing room. His wife, Jean, whom he met on the waltzers at the Doncaster St Leger horse racing meeting when she was 16 and he was 19 and to whom he remained married for life, burst into fits of laughter when she first saw it. He had the last laugh, the hairstyle inspiring alarming copycat versions across the football world.Keegan remained true to what he considered to be his working-class, mining roots, declaring himself a Labour man, annoyed that a staged photo of him feigning to kiss then prime minister Margaret Thatcher on the cheek was interpreted as support for economic policies which had ravaged heavy industry. He was more at home playing head tennis with a later PM, Tony Blair, to whom he was close enough to host at his home for dinner.Keegan inherited two mantles from Britain’s greatest players of the 1960s. As George Best, the original footballer sex symbol of the modern era, lapsed into alcoholism and increasing unreliability, Keegan became the more wholesome and dependable commercial face of the superstar footballer in Britain, inundated with deals. For England he effectively became Moore’s successor as captain but at a time when the national team was in decline from his predecessor’s World Cup-winning heights. For Keegan, as the sole outfield world-class player, it was a heavy burden to bear as they missed out on successive World Cup finals.His first major tournament for his country was the ill-fated 1980 European Championship and his World Cup career amounted to 20 minutes in 1982, a campaign which was disrupted by a back injury and where “my only contribution was a dreadful miss against the host nation to send us home. That moment is probably the only moment of my England career that people remember now.” It would prove to be his last game for England at the age of just 31.Keegan was a pioneering player, negotiating release clauses, unheard of at the time in England, at Liverpool and Hamburg, allowing him to leave if a club met a £500,000 fee, thereby controlling his moves. Leaving Liverpool at what was assumed to be their peak – he had just helped them win their first European Cup in 1977 – to join a team sixth in the Bundesliga was demonstrative of both Keegan’s single-mindedness and capacity to challenge himself. He also quadrupled his salary, reflecting the economic state of English football at the time.Hamburg was not an initial success. Jealous teammates held meetings to get him kicked out of the club and, according to Keegan, refused to pass to him. His nadir came at Christmas 1977 when, in a festive-season friendly, unhappy at his plight and frustrated with over-physical treatment from the Lübeck defender Erhard Press, Keegan punched him on the jaw and subsequently knocked him out, receiving an eight-week ban as punishment. Yet, a year later, he won his first Ballon d’Or and went on to lead Hamburg to their first Bundesliga title since 1960.Keegan embraced Germany, learning the language and was nicknamed “Mighty Mouse”, a tribute to his astonishing strength given his diminutive size. His first daughter, Laura, was born there but his finale, a European Cup final that would have sealed Hamburg’s place in history, was a sad one, ending as it did in defeat to Nottingham Forest. Having won three league titles, two Uefa Cups, an FA Cup and European Cup at Liverpool, the Bundesliga title would be the last trophy Keegan ever won. He was just 29 years old.Keegan made a typically unconventional choice in joining Southampton, a promising yet small-market team under a talented, persuasive manager in Lawrie McMenemy. Keegan propelled them to a top-six finish and qualification for Europe, but they faded to seventh in the second season and Keegan, disillusioned, made a decision that would define the second half of his professional life.Newcastle were in one of their periodic financial and footballing crises and in the old Second Division when, with money from brewers Scottish & Newcastle, they persuaded him to join in 1982. His father’s links to the north-east and reverence for Newcastle players such as Jackie Milburn were an emotional pull on Keegan, but one that cost him his England career. The manager, Bobby Robson, didn’t feel it appropriate to pick a second-tier player for England and Keegan, still captain and by far the most iconic national team player, learned from the press he had been “dumped”. He felt “betrayed, hurt and humiliated”.Crowds doubled at St James’ Park with Keegan’s arrival and Newcastle were promoted as champions in Keegan’s second season, 1983-84, by which point he had already decided to quit playing at the age of 33. Typically impulsive, it was when Mark Lawrenson outsprinted Keegan to dispossess him during an FA Cup tie at Liverpool that he decided he would finish his career at the end of the season.Keegan and family, which now included his second daughter, Sarah, born in 1982, decamped to his Marbella villa and, other than periodic business deals and discussions about a long-held dream to launch a Soccer Circus, he embraced retirement. Yet endless rounds of golf failed to satisfy. The family had moved back to his Hampshire home when Sir John Hall, a dynamic north-east businessman, called in 1992, begging Keegan to help Newcastle avoid relegation to the third tier and potential liquidation. Despite having watched no football for years, Keegan accepted. He threatened to quit after a few games but stayed to keep Newcastle up and promptly announced that he wanted to build a dynasty to rival Liverpool and challenge for the Premier League title.Most considered that quixotic and yet Newcastle won promotion to the Premier League as champions and with judicious youthful signings such as Andy Cole and Rob Lee, and veteran players such as Peter Beardsley, they came third and sixth in the top flight. So great was his authority, Keegan could even placate angry fans on the steps of St James’ Park when the club sold Cole to Manchester United.With that money the club signed David Ginola and Les Ferdinand and won nine of their first 10 games in 1995-96, often in thrilling fashion, establishing a seemingly unassailable 12-point lead by January. But a crucial defeat at home to Ferguson’s United in March 1996 and the Scot’s repeated use of psychological barbs seemed to weigh heavy on Keegan as his team’s form disintegrated. A dramatic yet debilitating 4-3 defeat at Liverpool led Sepp Blatter to write to Keegan but the sight of him slumped over advertising hoardings as Liverpool scored a last-minute winner suggested the toll was too much.Keegan eventually cracked, denouncing Ferguson in his famous TV interview. “You can tell him now, we’re still fighting for this title and I’ll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it!” United won the title with four points to spare.Keegan initially seemed determined to rebuild as the club signed Alan Shearer for a world-record £15m and they beat United 5-0 at St James’ Park that autumn, but Keegan quit soon after, outraged that a city banker preparing the club for flotation had issued him an ultimatum to sign a contract. Football’s new era seemed untethered from the idealistic foundational values imbued in him by Shankly.Keegan seemed done with football until the now-disgraced Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed used speculative talks about his much-vaunted Soccer Circus to persuade him to become chief operating officer and eventually manager of Fulham in the third tier. He almost seemed at his happiest as the club accelerated to promotion, but his time was interrupted by a national crisis when Glenn Hoddle was sacked as England manager for making offensive comments about disabled people. The clamour for Keegan to take over was indicative of his popularity with ordinary fans. However, it proved a decision he came to greatly regret, taking in a humiliating Euro 2000 group-stage exit and ending with him resigning in the toilets after an ignominious defeat against Germany in England’s last game at the old Wembley Stadium. It was, he conceded, a job beyond his abilities.That said, Keegan was happy to take on Manchester City in the old First Division, getting them promoted to the Premier League as champions with 99 points. He remained at the club for four years, an almost unprecedented period of stability at the club at that time. When he finally left City he seemed to be done with coaching and finally launched his Soccer Circus in Glasgow, though it closed after a few years. Yet there was to be one last comeback at Newcastle under the ill-starred ownership of Mike Ashley, which proved a disaster and lasted just eight months.The idea that a high-minded, old-fashioned football manager schooled by Shankly could coexist with a modern businessman as ruthless as Ashley and his cast of minions running the club always seemed improbable. When he walked away from the job, eventually winning a lengthy and bitter constructive dismissal claim, it was to be Keegan’s last act in football. So acrimonious was the departure that he was only able to return in disguise to attend a function at the club.The current regime made clear Keegan was always welcome back at St James’ Park. That was after his stage four cancer had been revealed in a series of speaking engagements in May 2026, one of which in Newcastle was, in retrospect, a heartfelt farewell to the fans to whom he had always felt closest. After that draining but exhilarating evening Keegan’s associates reported that he was in high spirits, energised by the reconnection with the fans who loved him most.It was to prove Keegan’s final goodbye. Football, as he observed, had given him everything except for a happy ending.

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Keegan revealed in June 2026 he had stage four cancerStarred for Liverpool, Hamburg, Newcastle and EnglandKevin Keegan, the former England and Newcastle manager who was twice European football of the year and a stalwart member of Liverpool’s serial First Division and European champions in the 1970s, has died aged 75.Keegan’s family revealed in January that he had cancer, and in June he revealed himself that it was stage four, the most advanced stage. “It is with immense sadness that we announce that Kevin Keegan has passed away at the age of 75,” read a family statement. “Kevin had been battling cancer and was surrounded by his wife and daughters in his final moments.“A double Ballon D’or winner, Kevin was a much loved husband, father and grandfather. The family would like to thank Kevin’s incredible medical team for all their support. This is a hugely difficult time and they are requesting space and privacy.”Keegan started his career at Scunthorpe before being signed for Liverpool by Bill Shankly for just £33,000 in 1971, “King Kevin” going on to win the First Division title three times as well as the FA Cup, the Uefa Cup twice and the 1977 European Cup. Keegan is the only British player to have won two Ballons d’Or.The 5ft 8in combative “Mighty Mouse” was not, by his own admission, a natural talent but the son of a south Yorkshire miner trained hard, remained humble and never ducked a challenge, traits that endured him to the Kop. “I learned so much from Shanks. He used to say: ‘If I was a road-sweeper, my street would be the cleanest in the borough.’ I took that to heart,’ he said.Keegan was twice named European Footballer of the Year while at the German club Hamburg and returned to England to play for Southampton and Newcastle before retiring as a player in 1984. He won 63 England caps, scoring 21 goals, playing at the 1982 World Cup and was also later captain of the national team.Keegan was never one to hold back, his fiery temperament rarely far from the surface. He was memorably sent off for scrapping with Leeds’s Billy Bremner in the 1974 Charity Shield after boiling over and his volatile temperament and pugnacious intolerance of football’s machinations, real or perceived. “I don’t like people to deceive me and tell me lies,” he told the Guardian in 2018.He wrote newspaper columns, was one of the English game’s first players to have their own branded football boots, had a hit record (Head Over Heels in Love), and became an enduring star of the BBC’s Superstars. He was the public face of 70s aftershave Brut 33 with Henry Cooper. He became close friends with another of the game’s renegades, George Best. “I wanted so much to have his ability. His skill was unbelievable. I played against Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Maradona. But I still say Besty was the best I played against,” he told Simon Hatterstone.Keegan retired from playing aged 33 and moved to Spain, where his two daughters grew up unaware he had been a footballer. “It was the best decision I made in my life,” he told the Guardian in 2011. “I was at the highest level and the only way was down. I call it the glass mountain – you can’t climb a glass mountain.”In 1992, Keegan made his first step into management at his former club Newcastle, guiding them into the Premier League and to within touching distance of the 1995-96 title only to miss out to Manchester United. His finger-jabbing “I will love it” rant when Alex Ferguson’s mind-games to get the better of him has become part of the English game’s lore.After leaving St James’ Park in January 1997, a brief stint at Fulham followed before he became England manager in 1999, having initially taken on the job following Glenn Hoddle’s departure. Amid a disappointing Euro 2000 campaign, Keegan resigned on the back of defeat by Germany at Wembley Stadium, after just 20 months and 18 games, winning only seven of them – the worst win ratio of any England manager.A spell at Manchester City followed, but Keegan left the club in March 2005, initially announcing his retirement from football, only to make an emotional return to Newcastle in 2008. That second spell lasted eight months following tensions with the board and owner Mike Ashley. In 2009 a tribunal awarded Keegan £2m damages for constructive dismissal.He was made an OBE in 1982 for services to football, but Keegan’s unreconstructed opinions could offend. In 2023, his questioning the suitability of former England women’s internationals commenting on incidents in men’s international matches landed him in hot water. At a public event in Bristol, he told the audience: “I don’t like to listen to ladies talking about the England men’s team at the match because I don’t think it’s the same experience. I have a problem with that.”

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Head coach should ditch a physical approach that has rarely worked and embrace England’s gifted ball playersOnly England can claim the bronze medal at the World Cup by beating France in a 10-goal thriller and end up even more annoyed with the manager. Yet emotions are still running high after the collapse against Argentina last week and it is going to take more than winning a game low on jeopardy for the criticism of Thomas Tuchel to die down.Hiring Tuchel was centred around the promise that he would make the difference in the big games. When that fell down, all that was left was anger. It exposed the core emptiness of the appointment, of a rich federation covering up the flaws in its coaching development by trying to game the system by throwing money at an expensive outsider.What is the Football Association’s vision? The initial idea was Tuchel providing a short, sharp shock and his tactical acumen helping England to get over the line. Then came a change after a successful qualifying campaign against modest opposition. The FA moved the goalposts by handing Tuchel a contract extension, and suddenly winning the World Cup did not seem quite as pressing.Yet the idea of Tuchel as a project builder seemed far-fetched during the bitter recriminations after the defeat by Argentina. Criticised for his negative substitutions when England led, the German talked dismissively of English DNA, lamenting the lack of care in possession. Fair enough, you thought, because this has long been a weakness – only, hadn’t Tuchel caused some of the damage by leaving out most of the ball players from his squad? Would it have been different if Adam Wharton, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Cole Palmer had been around in Atlanta? Maybe not, but a lot of money has been spent on developing a different type of English player in recent decades.Perhaps Tuchel was thinking of an old English DNA. But maybe this is part of the issue with employing a foreign coach whose focus is on winning by any means possible. This is the third time England have been down this road. There is an idea of the manager from abroad as a sophisticate. But Sven-Göran Eriksson was not as tactically adroit as Glenn Hoddle. Eriksson played a traditional 4-4-2 whereas Hoddle was flexible with his formations.Tuchel, too, has struggled to build an identity. He seems taken with an outdated English style. Tuchel wanted to play like a Premier League team, with pace and physicality, but that has rarely worked for England. They tend to be outpassed in big knockout games, which is why there has been such focus in youth football in developing players more at ease with the dominant Spanish passing style.Spain have just won another World Cup, their method too much for Argentina in a dour final, and for those watching from afar a big takeaway will surely be that the last two teams standing were led by homegrown coaches.Luis de la Fuente and Lionel Scaloni have risen through the ranks and are part of a system. They have a feeling for their countries, a sense of the identity. Tuchel has been inserted in the hope he can cover up the FA’s failure to produce its own coaches. No male team led by a foreign manager has secured the World Cup and it should worry the FA when bringing in an outsider with a win-now mentality ends with the senior side using a very different style of play to younger age groups.There is a view within youth coaching circles that Tuchel has taken England backwards at this tournament. The under-21s have won the past two European Championships by being brave on the ball. They have beaten Spain in consecutive tournaments and the demand from Lee Carsley is that his players take risks in possession. Tuchel finished the semi-final by lobbing balls towards Dan Burn. He played a pragmatic style and his England ended up unable to throw caution to the wind. This World Cup underlines that turning to celebrated coaches from the club game is not a recipe for success.Brazil appointed Carlo Ancelotti but went out in the last 16. Roberto Martínez failed with Portugal after sticking with Cristiano Ronaldo. Mauricio Pochettino oversaw the USA side being humiliated by Belgium.Scaloni came through the national setup before winning the World Cup with Argentina in 2022. Similarly De la Fuente won the European Under-19 Championship with Spain in 2015 and the European Under-21 Championship in 2019. He has brought players through and, having earned a promotion, won the senior European title in 2024.Spain show smooth progression. Players who beat Argentina in the final played youth football for De la Fuente. This is not to say that England’s next step should be to appoint Carsley, who did not seem as if he had the temperament for the senior job when he filled in as caretaker between Gareth Southgate’s departure and Tuchel’s arrival. Even so, Carsley is closer to the Spanish style and has shown it is possible for England teams to be risk-takers.It is food for thought for the FA as it reviews England’s World Cup. As it stands, Tuchel will get another tournament. There are bridges to build but finishing third is not a sackable offence. In any case there is no other idea at the FA. Tuchel was not produced, he was bought. Hopefully he adapts during the Nations League. There should be a shift away from this physical style. But do not be surprised if the hired gun’s views on English DNA end up making him sound out of touch. It would not happen to Spain. De la Fuente knows their identity. He is part of it.

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Our picture editor chooses his favourite images from the tournament including Lionel Messi’s cathedral, that delicious diving header from Jude Bellingham and a humbling scene in GazaWhat makes a great World Cup photograph? Now there’s a question with myriad answers. Composition, newsworthiness, emotional resonance, expert timing and luck can all contribute to varying degrees. But one thing they all share is the power to capture attention.On the Guardian sport picture desk, we have received more than 500,000 World Cup photographs over the past six weeks, with so many classics among them. Here, with much applause to the photographers who created them and a slight bias towards England, are my favourite images of the tournament.An absolute cracker to start with. In this picture, the cavernous Kansas City Stadium sweeps around a small corner of grass on which the world’s most famous footballer stands alone. You can’t really see it’s Lionel Messi, but somehow you can tell it’s him. It feels as though everybody’s eyes are pointed in his direction, as though they’re worshipping a deity in an epic footballing cathedral.Technological improvements have led to the creation of high-quality miniature remote-operated cameras which can be placed inside goalmouths. Seeing the game at such close quarters feels wonderfully dynamic. This frame in particular captures a mad scramble between Brazil and Japan; the wonky angle adds to the sense of chaos.A self-referential choice, but this was a big news story at the time: England played Croatia in their first game and the England manager, Thomas Tuchel, was so furious he couldn’t see the players during the national anthem that he asked Fifa to move the photographers for subsequent games. In fairness to him, you can see why. Four weeks later, Tuchel would garner headlines again after his substitutions in the semi-final against Argentina helped to trigger England’s collapse.At first glance it looks innocuous enough, then you notice Tarik Muharemovic’s right ankle buckling under the pressure applied by Folarin Balogun’s mistimed challenge. Replays of the incident suggested the foul was unintentional, though the Bosnian was lucky to escape injury. Balogun received a red card following a VAR review, but his one-game ban was suspended by Fifa after lobbying from Donald Trump. With Balogun back in the team, the USA were dumped out of their own tournament by Belgium in the next round.I’ve relished seeing so many photographs from inside the tunnels at this World Cup because the players seem to reveal a little more of themselves away from the public eye. This candid shot of Scotland players Findlay Curtis and Jack Hendry shows them in the wake of their 3-0 loss to Brazil – a defeat that was filled with calamity, and which ultimately led to Scotland’s early exit. They look like they’re outside a head teacher’s office waiting to be reprimanded.I love a good diving header and this one by Jude Bellingham against Mexico was peachy. From a photographic point of view, you seldom get shots from tribune positions like this during a Premier League season, so they have a real novelty value during major tournaments. But it’s more than just novelty: the elevated vantage point helps to remove the surrounding clutter and give a proper fan’s eye view of the goal. I also love the verdant grass, the shocking pink goalkeeper’s jersey and the sense of anticipation because the ball has yet to cross the line. It reminds me of the signed photograph of Coventry’s Keith Houchen, from the 1987 FA Cup final, that hangs proudly on my dad’s office wall.So many hydration breaks, so much Powerade, but only one player managed to look like a Portuguese water dog fresh from a dip in a lake. The Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimarães is pictured here dousing himself in H2O when his side faced Morocco in their opening game at New York New Jersey Stadium. Brazil ultimately went home for an early bath after losing to Norway in the last 16.The mass rowing displays performed by Norway’s fans this summer have been a viral sensation. Seen everywhere from Times Square to Miami Beach, they also became a fixture of the team’s post-match partying, with Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard both banging a fan’s drum as the side progressed to the quarter-finals. The Vikings were stopped by England, but their journey was one of the feelgood stories of the tournament.A gorgeous pool of afternoon sunlight spilling on to the pitch, surrounded by deep shadows. You couldn’t really create better low-key lighting conditions if you tried. The photographer just had to nail the exposure and wait for a subject to pass through. The fact that it’s Kylian Mbappé who’s skating across the turf in his rich blue France top adds a nice splash of colour and gravity to the scene.Luka Modric has spoken in the past about not wanting to let his people down, and of carrying memories of his grandpa, Luka, with him. He appears to be deep in thought here before playing Panama. Perhaps it’s just a fleeting moment – a man simply massaging his temple or visualising the first tackle – or maybe he’s remembering his war-torn roots and the family member he was named after.At the ripe age of 40 and with a club career that has taken him to Cyprus, Moldova, Portugal and Slovakia, the Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha became the breakout star at this year’s World Cup. His numerous saves against Spain in the group stage earned him global praise as well as 17 million followers on Instagram. Another stellar display against Argentina, in which he memorably denied a quick free-kick by Messi, further enhanced his reputation. I like his expression in this photograph as he soaks up the adulation from the crowd following the Blue Sharks’ remarkable goalless draw with Spain.This photograph shows the power of football while also putting the World Cup into perspective. These Palestinian residents in Gaza may have lost everything, but they gathered amid the ruins of their former homes to watch a screening of Egypt’s game against Argentina. A moment of normality amid the horror and heartache.Erling Haaland’s first goal against Brazil left his old Premier League rival, Gabriel Magalhães, in a heap. In this shot you can see water (or perhaps sweat) flying off the striker’s forehead, his neck fully strained after connecting with the ball. Haaland scored seven goals in five World Cup games: he netted from inside the box, outside the box, with his left foot, right foot and of course his head. Norway have still never been beaten by Brazil after five matches. No other nation can say that.This image was shot before the tournament, as part of Fifa’s official player portraits, but I’ve only recently seen it – and it’s well worth a mention. You don’t see many players with braces, but Lamine Yamal, who only turned 19 this month, wears his with pride. This frame was shot using a 24-70mm lens on a Canon R5 Mark II which has a whopping 45 megapixels, so I suspect it’s been cropped quite hard in post-production to achieve this composition.Some penalty misses are worse than others. Germany’s Jonathan Tah and Manuel Akanji of Switzerland both had Chris Waddle moments as they blew their chances from 12 yards over the bar. Ordinarily I’d say you need to see the crossbar to illustrate that the shot went over, but the way the ball is rocketing skywards – almost as if it could escape the stadium roof – tells the story perfectly.Even when your ego is as big as the sun, sometimes you just need a cuddle. This photograph captures Neymar Jr’s visible distress as he realises his international career is over and his childhood ambitions of lifting the World Cup will never be fulfilled. His teammate Raphina is there to support him. It lacks the humility of Freddie Flintoff consoling his opponent Brett Lee in the Ashes, or the stoicism of Derek Redmond being helped across the finish line by his father at the 1992 Olympics, but it still packs an emotional gut punch.This photograph was flipped around by Getty Images before being transmitted to us. Manipulation of this ilk feels almost heretical in the world of photojournalism, and yet I’m inclined to say it’s compelling. It shows Julián Alvarez celebrating his late winner against Switzerland, and it makes me question my fundamental photographic principles. Would I print it in the newspaper like this? Absolutely not. Would I include it in an online gallery of images that caught my eye this summer? Evidently so.The stadums in the US have been mind-blowing in scale. Atlanta Stadium, home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and the city’s MLS and NWSL teams, has a maximum capacity of 75,000 people, a climate-controlled environment and a 335-metre display known as the “halo”. This picture from up in the gods looks suitably epic. Initially I assumed the camera was remote-controlled, but it transpires some photographers were actually working up there on the gantry. What a view they had!This is a beautiful example of a photographer using a slow shutter speed while panning gently with the action. I especially like the details within: Anthony Elanga’s facial expression is crisp, and the pink boots leave a painterly trail.Harry Kane’s late strikes against the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 32 led to an outpouring of emotion from the England captain. I was torn over which frame to select – there are some lovely ones of him sprinting across the turf, flanked by Jude Bellingham and Anthony Gordon – but this one of him being embraced by Bellingham serves as a perfect reminder of their twin heroics at the tournament. It’s clean, nicely balanced and full of bromance.The guaranteed agony and ecstasy of penalty shootouts always makes for brilliant images. This year, Gustavo Gómez of Paraguay takes the crown for the wildest reaction. After beating Germany during sudden death, Gómez, who scored his own spot-kick, surges across the pitch like a heron taking flight, almost vaulting his teammates José Canale and Orlando Gill as he went to embrace them. He then careered through the photographers behind the goal in pursuit of a mobile phone so that he could document the moment himself.Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, also known as Lumumba Vea, is dubbed a “living statue” because he doesn’t move during games. Instead, the DRC fan poses on a plinth for the entire match, raising his right arm to mimic the statue of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the First Congolese Republic, which stands in Kinshasa. Why anyone would go to a football match and not respond to the on-pitch action is beyond me, but Mboladinga insists it’s his patriotic duty.Youri Tielemans scored twice in Belgium’s stunning comeback against Senegal in the last 32. This 89th-minute header might have been a little trickier to control had the defender Moussa Niakhaté competed for the ball instead of diving theatrically to the ground at the first sign of contact. The virtue of modern cameras, many of which shoot 30 frames per second, is that the full sequence of this goal was captured, and we could choose the exact frame when Tielemans’s head connects with the ball.Sasa Kalajdzic overcame three anterior cruciate ligament injuries in the years and months prior to the 2026 World Cup, but the Austrian enjoyed a moment to savour when he netted a 96th-minute equaliser against Algeria to keep his side in the tournament. The game ignited accusations of fixing, because a 3-3 draw ensured both sides went through, but a finale like that – and celebrations like this – cannot be scripted.Australia’s Connor Metcalfe needed three stitches in his eyebrow after being clipped by a stray boot from Andrés Cubas during the Socceroos’ group match with Paraguay. Maybe it’s the slumped shoulders or the shirt pulled up around his neckline, but he looks like a forlorn child who needs a parent to clean him up.You could say this is just another “two men and a ball” photograph (an expression the Guardian’s photographer, Tom Jenkins, uses to describe generic images of sporting action). But I particularly like this one because of the contrast of sporting prowess – the acrobat versus the brick wall – and for the misshapen ball which appears ready to pop. Dan Burn has become a cult figure for England, in the mould of Peter Crouch. Many supporters call the 6ft 7in defender Big Dan Burn, but Bellingham apparently calls him Burninho. There’s no way Raúl Jiménez, the Mexico striker, was ever getting the ball past him.Ismaël Koné’s eyes say it all. The Canada midfielder had just broken the tibia and fibula bones in his lower left leg after a challenge by Qatar’s midfielder Assim Madibo, who would receive a red card and a five-match ban. As a photo editor, when incidents like this occur you have to weigh up decency and news value before publishing (I still feel traumatised by the uncensored images I saw of Eduardo’s broken leg in 2008). I think this image conveys the severity of the incident without being unduly graphic. Koné left the pitch on a stretcher but waved to fans as he exited.The composition of this photograph is simple but beautiful. The intersecting diagonals, the contrast between light and shade, and the depth within the scene … it all makes for rich viewing.Let’s be honest, Lionel Messi is not very good at penalties. He’s missed four of eight in World Cup matches and 34 of 151 in his career, including shootouts. A botched effort against Egypt, in a match which the African side went on to lead 2-0, could have been a harrowing ending to his gilded international career. Instead, Messi did what Messi does: he scored the equaliser and drove his team to a remarkable 3-2 win in normal time. This picture, taken after the match, speaks to the weight he carries on his shoulders. Is he feeling relief or guilt? Either way, he looks tortured by expectation.Ordinarily I’d select a celebration photograph from the World Cup final among my favourites, but this ‘tackle’ by Enzo Fernández was so bad – and the image of Pau Cubarsi flying through the air so striking – that I couldn’t look beyond it. An absolutely dreadful final sparked into life at this moment. Cubarsi rose from the turf to claim the title of ‘best young player’ of the tournament and, more importantly, a World Cup winner’s medal.

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German created ‘best England group for togetherness’Captain underlines importance of Nations League gamesHarry Kane has backed Thomas Tuchel to learn from England’s World Cup semi-final defeat against Argentina and believes they must use the forthcoming Nations League campaign to gain experience of playing against the top teams.Kane was an unused substitute as England sealed third place with an entertaining 6-4 victory against France on Saturday – their best finish at a World Cup on foreign soil. Tuchel, who signed a contract extension before the tournament, has been criticised heavily for his tactics against Argentina when he opted to switch to a back five to try to defend a 1-0 lead.Kane admitted England had fallen short against Lionel Scaloni’s side but described the environment Tuchel has created since succeeding Gareth Southgate in 2025 as “the best England group I’ve been a part of in terms of togetherness”.The captain said: “I know there are a lot of questions after the other night. We have to process it as players. I’m sure the manager will. It’s his first major tournament. He’ll learn a lot from the players, the situations, the pressures, the travel.“There are also a lot of things as players we can learn from the other night. For now it’s just trying to process everything. We had a lot of good things, a lot of tough situations we overcame. The group is incredible, the best England group I’ve been a part of in terms of togetherness. The boss was a big part of creating that as well.“Fans are going to be angry and we understand it. It’s a major tournament and that’s why you dream so big. When it doesn’t go your way you have to take the criticism. We’re all willing to do that, to dare to reach the biggest goal of all. We know over the next two years until we’re facing that situation again there is always going to be a question mark. It’s something we have to take and use as motivation.”England missed out on facing regular top-class opposition in the buildup to the World Cup after being relegated from the top Nations League group in 2022 under Southgate. They were promoted in 2024 and will face Spain, Croatia and Czechia, starting with a rematch of the Euro 2024 final against Luis de la Fuente’s side on 26 September at Wembley. After beating France – albeit in a largely meaningless game – Kane thinks England must take the competition seriously if they are to thrive in tournaments.“The last 30 minutes of Argentina is not the team we want to be,” he said. “We spent a lot of time over the last two years talking about that situation, to attack those moments. The bottom line is we lost anyway. It’s easy to go away and talk about it. We need to get better at actually being in those situations. We can train, play the qualifiers … I think the Nations League will be big for us, against Spain and Croatia, big teams.“Getting used to those big environments and finding our best form against those teams, like we did against France, albeit not in the most competitive match. We have to learn, improve. The coach will have improved from these learnings. I can talk as much as I want but ultimately it’s about showing it next time we’re in that situation.”Kane has been on the losing side in two World Cup semi-finals and two European Championship finals and he believes Tuchel is the man to help England to make the final step.“The enthusiasm he has, the emotion he brings, the tactical experience he has … it doesn’t mean you’re going to get it right every time. We want to get it right on the biggest occasions and he expects that from himself as well. He’s a fantastic coach. He not only gave the players belief but he gave the country belief that it was our year. That is why it hurts even more than other years because everyone believed we were going all the way.“Everyone has to process it. He has to process it himself. We’re still in that grieving stage, the emotional stage, and we’ll be in that for the next few weeks. It won’t be until the next camp where you think about what the future holds and what the next target is. We’ll have conversations as captain and manager and with other teammates and staff, to see where we can be better.”

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After the team’s third-placed finish, we rate the 24 squad members who made an appearance at the tournamentJordan Pickford Could he have done better with Enzo Fernández’s equaliser for Argentina? Jude Bellingham certainly thought so. But the man who has made more World Cup finals appearances than any other Englishman made some crucial saves, including a brilliant stop from Nicolas González in the semi-final. 7Dean Henderson Had to wait until the third-place playoff for some action and ended up conceding four goals despite a strong performance. Will hope to challenge Pickford over next two years. 7Djed Spence Emerged as an unlikely cult hero thanks to some wholehearted performances. He will always be remembered for snubbing Thomas Partey’s handshake and his tackle on Giuliano Simeone against Argentina. 8Marc Guéhi Somehow wasn’t Thomas Tuchel’s first-choice initially, although that was rectified after the Croatia game. England’s most consistent and reliable defender – the way he handled Erling Haaland was a masterclass. 8John Stones Arrived painfully short of match fitness and it showed in the opening game against Croatia. Much improved when called upon in the quarter- and semi-finals. A huge asset when he plays. 7Ezri Konsa A few shaky moments during the group stage but recovered well and filled in capably at right-back when needed. At 28, young enough to be there again in four years. 7Dan Burn Showed his limitations against Argentina. But he will always have those two epic appearances off the bench against Mexico and Norway. No one will forget the clearing headers so powerful they ended up in the opposition’s half. 7Nico O’Reilly Had his strongest game against Norway in the quarter-final when he was at his marauding best. Will be disappointed not to have scored and to have been on the pitch as a substitute when Argentina instigated their semi-final comeback. 6Reece James Such a good player when fit, which is sadly far too rare. Missed most of the tournament owing to a hamstring injury and England suffered when he went off against Argentina. 6Trevoh Chalobah The Chelsea player was a surprise choice to replace Tino Livramento, who pulled out injured at the last minute. Managed only six minutes against France in the end. 6Jarell Quansah Brought in to solve the right-back conundrum against Panama, he was doing well until the rush of blood against Mexico and subsequent red card. Recalled for the France game and had to be replaced. 5Jude Bellingham Showed his supreme quality when it mattered and could not be more committed to his country’s cause, even if his rocky relationship with Tuchel had to be carefully managed. 9Elliot Anderson Didn’t allow himself to be distracted by his £116m move to Manchester City and grew as the tournament progressed. Ran his heart out against Norway and Argentina. 8Morgan Rogers Made the most of his limited minutes in unfamiliar roles. Showed what a good player he is by playing as one of the two central midfielders against Norway before setting up Anthony Gordon from the right wing against Argentina. 8Declan Rice Clearly affected by the hamstring and back problems that marred the second half of his season with Arsenal, even if his effort – as ever – could not be faulted. Needs a long rest to recharge his batteries but may not get one. 6Eberechi Eze Could not have the impact he would have wished for in four substitute appearances before starting against France. Did a decent job in central midfield against Panama but was largely on the periphery when given a chance on the left in the quarter-final. 6Jordan Henderson Spent 12 minutes on the pitch, in a historic appearance against Panama when he became the first England men’s player to appear at seven major international tournaments. But managed to get booked against Mexico as a substitute and break an arm celebrating the win. 5Bukayo Saka Three goals and three assists despite playing through the pain of an achilles injury was a courageous effort from Arsenal’s talisman. It was a huge surprise not to see him come off the bench against Argentina and he showed what England were missing against France. 8Anthony Gordon A quiet start having been preferred to Rashford before responding magnificently to being dropped. Three assists and a goal against Argentina showed why Barcelona were so keen to sign him. 8Harry Kane Sadly his tournament will be remembered for a largely anonymous display against Argentina rather than rescuing England against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Will he ever have a better chance to win the World Cup? 8Marcus Rashford Made a good start to his third World Cup by coming off the bench to score against Croatia, and started against Panama. But wasn’t seen again until England were chasing the game against Argentina in injury time. 6Ivan Toney Sat on the bench until Lautaro Martínez’s goal in added time of the semi-final. Could not make an impact in the three minutes he was given but did well against France. 6Ollie Watkins Largely a frustrated spectator despite his heroics in the Euro 2024 semi-final and arriving here in a rich vein of form. A half on the left flank against France and a brief appearance against Panama were scant reward. 6Noni Madueke Some promising moments but lacked end product in his four starts and had slipped down the pecking order by the semi-final. Needs to be much more clinical at this level. 5Did not play: James Trafford and Kobbie Mainoo

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France beaten 6-4 on ‘very emotional’ day for squad‘This will help – but you never fully celebrate bronze’Thomas Tuchel has said England’s players can be proud of their efforts after a thrilling 6-4 victory over France sealed third place at the World Cup for the first time.England raced into a 4-0 lead at half-time thanks to goals from Declan Rice – the stand-in captain – Ezri Konsa and two from Bukayo Saka. But they were pegged back to within one goal after Didier Deschamps, taking charge of his final France game after 14 years, rang the changes at the break. Kylian Mbappé took his tally at this tournament to 10 goals and 22 at World Cups in total as he pushed to win a second successive Golden Boot and surpassed Lionel Messi’s all-time record. The Argentina forward will have a chance to overhaul him in Sunday’s final against Spain.Saka completed his hat-trick before Ousmane Dembélé made it 5-4 in injury-time and it was left to Jude Bellingham to have the final say after coming off the bench with his seventh goal of the tournament – the most by an England player at a World Cup.England were within five minutes plus stoppages of reaching their first World Cup final on foreign soil until Messi inspired the reigning champions’ late comeback in Atlanta on Wednesday. Tuchel, who was booed by some supporters when his name was read out before kick-off here, said in the buildup to this match that England had to show they were capable of cutting the gap to the leading nations. After hanging on for the win against the 2018 world champions, he has challenged his players to keep improving, starting with their Nations League meeting with Spain at Wembley on 26 September.“This game will help us for sure – even if you can never fully celebrate a bronze medal,” Tuchel said. “It’s the first [World Cup] medal for 60 years, first [at a] World Cup on foreign soil, and I hope the players can be proud of that at some point. We set ourselves the highest dream to chase, and we were very, very ambitious with our dream to make the final in the World Cup. So it’s very, very painful if you miss out, the pain will stay for a while.”Tuchel revealed that Jordan Henderson had delivered a speech before the game that had helped to put their achievement in perspective. “He put us in the right frame of mind, with everyone in one mindset. It was unbelievable because today was very emotional. We built something very special in the last seven weeks, and we’ll never negotiate on that. I still stand by my words, that we need to play better football, manage games better under pressure, take better decisions under pressure. We need to defend more economically.”Tuchel’s assistant, Anthony Barry, had given an emotional half-time interview when England were 4-0 up when he expressed surprise at the level of the performance given that they were “playing a game with broken hearts”. “The cynics will say it’s too late but we still play against a world-class opponent and I’m so proud of the boys,” he told the BBC. “There’s 45 minutes to go. The game’s not done. Anything can happen. But I’m proud of the team and I hope everyone is as well at home.”Saka was an unused substitute against Argentina and the Arsenal forward admitted he was disappointed not to have been involved. “Of course I would love to have played more but it’s too late to talk about that,” he said. “I try to do my talking on the pitch and it’s done now – let’s move on.“We fell short against Argentina. It hurts a lot. I’m sure it’s the same for the fans back home. We have to hold our heads high and move on. Obviously we’re both quite disappointed to not be in the final but it was about finishing strong and for us giving the country the best position in the World Cup they have finished for 60 years, so we’re happy with the final result.”Zinedine Zidane is poised to take over from Deschamps, who became only the third person to win the World Cup as a player and manager and said he was departing with no regrets after reaching the 2018 and 2022 finals.“I could have changed eight of them at half-time,” he joked about his team’s first-half display. “It is the end of a journey that has represented the most beautiful period of my life. I always put the French team first. You can be called by the best clubs in the world but there is nothing above this national team. We have faced the greatest moments and I’m hoping for the team to reach new levels when I’m gone.”

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Where to start with this rollercoaster of a match? Thomas Tuchel had promised a reaction but he could not have imagined the manner of the response from England, albeit against a France team firmly on their sunloungers during an incredible first half in which they conceded four times.Yet with Kylian Mbappé on the hunt for his second successive Golden Boot in Didier Deschamps’ last match in charge of Les Bleus, even that lead courtesy of goals from Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and two from Bukayo Saka almost wasn’t enough. Mbappé began the comeback straight after half-time before adding his second after Bradley Barcola’s strike. The 27-year-old has become the first male player to reach double figures at a World Cup since Gerd Müller in 1970. Over to you, Lionel.Thankfully for England, Saka’s late penalty to complete his hat-trick and Jude Bellingham’s seventh of the tournament after he came off the bench ensured that an afternoon that had begun with boos for Tuchel from some supporters ended with England claiming third place at the World Cup for the first time. Although the scars of their semi-final loss to Argentina will remain, they at least rounded off their campaign with a memorable victory.Miami’s leaden skies throughout the day had matched the mood of both teams as they tried to put on a brave face after semi-final exits. As well as his attempt to overhaul Lionel Messi, Mbappé had extra motivation along with his teammates to send Deschamps off into the sunset with a victory after 14 years at the helm. The Real Madrid star published a message on social media in the hours before kick-off thanking the man who guided France to a second world title in 2018 and came so close four years later. “Today is your last dance,” he wrote.Tuchel signed a contract extension before this tournament and has indicated he wants to lead England into Euro 2028 on home soil. However after a tetchy pre-match press conference here on Friday night when the German doubled down on the conviction that he would make the same decisions again given the chance against Argentina, the next two years look set to be a test of his ability to rebuild his reputation among England’s supporters. The reception Harry Kane and the rest were given after England received their bronze medals suggested the players’ effort over the past five weeks has been fully appreciated.Like Deschamps, Tuchel made seven changes from the semi-final, with Rice surprisingly named captain in place of Kane despite carrying an injury for the entire tournament. Arsenal, who have serious concerns about how long William Saliba is likely to be sidelined with a back injury, will not have been delighted to find Saka starting either.There was also intrigue in the absence from the bench of Kobbie Mainoo, the Manchester United midfielder who has not played a minute at the World Cup. The Football Association said he was injured, although Jordan Henderson was listed among the substitutes despite the broken arm sustained celebrating England’s win over Mexico.At first, France seemed to be suffering from more of a hangover. Désiré Doué’s loose pass in the third minute was seized upon by Rice and his finish left Mike Maignan with no chance. Mbappé managed to tread on the ball just as he was speeding through on goal before Saka had a goal from an exquisite Morgan Rogers pass chalked off for offside. It needed a block from Maxence Lacroix to halt Saka’s next attack before Konsa beat his marker, Adrien Rabiot, to nod in Rice’s corner. England looked as if they had a point to prove.Marcus Rashford embarrassed Warren Zaïre-Emery with a nutmeg before unleashing a powerful shot that was well saved by Maignan. At the other end, Dean Henderson brilliantly denied Mbappé, who had cut in from the left, before another save ended up kickstarting the move for England’s third on the break. There was something comical about the way Rashford and Saka took turns trying to score before the latter eventually did. A brilliant pass from Eberechi Eze set up Saka’s second on the stroke of half-time. France’s players looked stunned, even if Mbappé tried his best to laugh it off.Deschamps responded by making four changes at the break, including Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola. They had pulled one back within three minutes when Mbappé finished Olise’s through ball after the England substitute Ollie Watkins lost possession. It was not long before Barcola was sprinting back to halfway with the ball tucked under an arm after making it 4-2. Mbappé added his second after exchanging passes with Olise on the edge of England’s area and suddenly Tuchel’s side were really wobbling.Somehow Olise could not hit the target to force extra time after toying with England’s defence. Bellingham and Elliot Anderson had been summoned from the bench by that stage and it was left to the former and Saka, who did not get off the bench against Argentina, to hammer the final nails into France’s coffin. Between times Dembélé pulled another goal back in this incredible spectacle that will surely go down as the game of the tournament.

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Lee Matthews gets in touch: “On TT, I don’t think we all want to play the ‘blame game’ as he says. I think we just want to understand what happened. I think we could move on if he could help us understand what it was like to make that decision under the stressful conditions he and his team were experiencing.“Sat at home, we can say what we’d do without having to face the consequences. If he could open up and talk us through it, we could understand. More than any other tournament exit, I’m frustrated - my first WC was 1986. If he keeps saying he has ‘no regrets’ and these keep being the headlines, he’ll lose everyone’s support for good. Going for it tonight could help. Win or lose, if he goes for it, he can show what a post-WC TT England team will look like. Open up and talk to us TT and please go for it tonight… Fingers crossed….”

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Saturday’s rebranded “bronze final” between France and England in Miami might feel like a modern, Gianni-coded exercise in squeezing the product dry, but the third-place playoff is a staple of World Cup history, even if it remains the game nobody wants to play in. The very first TPPO came in 1934, Germany defeating Austria 3-2 in a match engulfed in murky, menacing geopolitics. Thankfully, the fixture quickly became a more knockabout affair – Brazil swaggered on to the world stage by beating Sweden 4-2 in 1938, and France put six past West Germany in a nine-goal feast of football 20 years later. Just Fontaine scored four that day, later to be joined by Thomas Müller, Davor Suker and Toto Schillaci in using the fixture to pad their Golden Boot stats – a tactic Kylian Mbappé might want to try against a punch-drunk England side and pip Lionel Messi to another personal accolade as a result.Yes, the third-place playoff can have a hungover, world-weary vibe, but it can also be a lot of fun. The goals-per-game average is higher than in the final, and the TPPO has never gone to penalties. But does the result matter? It depends who you ask. Back in 1982, France lost an all-time classic semi-final on penalties to West Germany, and were extremely laissez-faire against Poland just two days later. “Our hearts were elsewhere,” Alain Giresse recalled 40 years on. “We had pulled the plug.” On the other hand, Poland’s 3-2 victory meant they matched their best-ever performance, having also won the TPPO against Brazil in 1970. Plenty of other teams have secured a new personal best via this fixture, including Austria, Chile, Portugal, Turkey and Belgium, whose 2-0 triumph over a checked-out England sealed third place in 2018, and a rousing civic reception when the squad returned home.Even if no player or team truly enjoys this game, England still like it less than most. Their two previous appearances have ended in defeat – against Italy in 1990, and the aforementioned Belgium clash in 2018. Not even Carlo Ancelotti would raise an eyebrow if England come up short again on Saturday, against an all-star France attack eager to take out their frustration on anyone in their path. But if England can be a little more Azteca, a little less Atlanta, then their best men’s World Cup performance since 1966 is in reach. So dig Kobbie Mainoo out of storage, fire up Wonderwall and get in the mood. What do you reckon, Thomas Tuchel? “None of our players and none of the French players want to play this match.” Ah. Still, would victory at least earn Tuchel some breathing room, a shiny bronze medal to point at as hacks keep banging on about the Argentina game? The short, and indeed long answer is no. But there are just two bites left at this summer-long buffet of football, so we’re going to watch it anyway.Join John Brewin from 10pm BST (5pm EST) for hot minute-by-minute updates from France 3-1 England in the TPPO.Want a pick of Big Website’s best sportswriting and highlights in the past seven days? Well, subscribe to the Recap and you’ll get it on Sunday.“None of us ‌wanted to play for ​this third place but ​we have no choice. We want to pay back our coach. He did so much for the France team. We must be grateful to him for that and we need to do everything we can to win this game … to get this chocolate medal, this bronze medal” – Ibrahima Konaté has got Football Daily hungry before Didier Deschamps’ final game with France.double quotation markI seem to recall that the GWC has been hosted by three countries, who advanced to the same stage of the competition, making them at least equal as far as ability to compete is concerned. So, surely, any presentations at the final should be represented and handed over by Canada, Mexico and USA USA USA, on behalf of Fifa, and not only by Donald Trump?” – Dave Butler.double quotation markSo Donald Trump will be attending the GWC final … what further imaginary award will Infantino pull out of the hat for him at the end? The Ballon d’Orange perhaps?” – Phil Tavernerdouble quotation markRe: naming the 2030 World Cup (Football Daily letters passim): split across three global power zones, it sounds like an Aldous Huxley dystopian vision. How about Brave New World Cup?” – Daniel SolomonsIf you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day goes to … Dave Butler. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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England’s coach said ball possession is not in the team’s DNA – it’s an opinion that should disqualify him from the jobHow we talked. On late-night news shows, disembodied heads above a rolling yellow banner. On planes and trains, at bus stops and flower shops and kids’ birthday parties, trying desperately to connect the ennui of the now with the vividness of the later, trying on some level to anticipate the feelings, the blood surge, the heart rush. At the sinks in the office toilets, jerthinktheylldoit, theyactuallymighty’know, shake-shake, and your devastating analysis of the Rice-Anderson-Mainoo triple pivot gets lost in the noise of the hand-dryer.Two years of this. Countless millions sunk on tickets, hotels, Ubers, shirts, pizzas, flags, the hours spent on Google Maps trying to locate somewhere to eat after 11pm in Riga, the endless psychodrama over Jude Bellingham and whether he should have been left at home or not (turns out, not). How we bled and sweated over this, over the minor details of the journey, over whether Danny Welbeck had done enough to earn a place in the squad or not (turns out, not). All pointing towards the moment on Wednesday evening when England are 1-0 up in a World Cup semi-final against Argentina and your entire happiness rests on whether a bunch of millionaire footballers and a millionaire German coach can keep their shit together for 40 minutes, or not.Turns out, not. And out there, on the ragged shores of This England, there is a view already beginning to take shape. That while Thomas Tuchel’s substitutions may have cemented Argentina’s territorial dominance, England were basically under the pump long before that point, already dropping back and committing to a defensive rearguard. That this is in fact a wider malaise, perhaps even a kind of moral deficiency, a long and persistent pattern of failure in which – say – getting destroyed 4-1 by Germany in 2010 and losing to France in 2022 with 57% possession are basically the same offence, a common sickness, the same lozenge in different flavours.And you have to challenge these things at source, because if you don’t challenge them they become established fact, whether or not they’re actually true. Well, I’ve watched the tape back so you don’t have to. Specifically, the 13 minutes from Anthony Gordon’s goal hitting the net to the second drinks break. In those 13 minutes England have to weather quite a bit of Argentina pressure. There are corners, crosses, a header from Nicolás González that Jordan Pickford gets down well to save. But none of this is remotely out of the ordinary.Indeed pretty much as soon as Argentina kick off they gift England another opening, Lisandro Martínez letting the ball run under his foot, Morgan Rogers winning possession, and Harry Kane not quite able to control his pass. By 61 minutes England have pressed Argentina back into their own third. In the subsequent minutes Kane and Declan Rice will both have low-percentage shots from distance.The problem here is not tactics, not fatalism, not an endemic national culture of failure, but poor decision-making, perhaps reinforced by fatigue. Lionel Messi is not yet running the game, and none of what follows is inexorable or inevitable, let alone generational. The drinks break arrives and England can rest for a few minutes, perhaps even make a sub or two to freshen things up. It is at this point that Tuchel decides to blow up England’s chances of winning the World Cup.As a counterfactual, what would have a more optimistic and effective response looked like at this point? Kane was clearly out on his feet, and keeping him in play for the faint possibility of penalties in an hour was madness. So Ollie Watkins comes on to stretch the play and lead the press. This is no longer a game for Rogers and so you throw on Bukayo Saka, not just for his defensive skill but his ability to dribble his way out of pressure and feast on the spaces that will open up. Above all you trust in the process, the sense of purpose and ambition and unity that knows that World Cups are won, not survived.“If we lose, we lose in our way,” Tuchel told his players at half-time in the opening game against Croatia, a call to arms that generated some of the most thrilling football England have played at a major tournament in my lifetime. Where did that go, Thomas? Or: where did that Thomas go? Perhaps at some point on the road to the Azteca, or in the heat of Miami, Tuchel lost the simple faith that had brought England to this point.This is how you end up with six defenders on the pitch, with Saka and Watkins and Kobbie Mainoo and Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke all fresh and unused on the bench, with Cole Palmer and Phil Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold and Adam Wharton and Morgan Gibbs-White at home. Between the second hydration break and the second Argentina goal, England had less than 8% possession, completed just five passes in 25 minutes, allowed a 39-year-old player from Major League Soccer to play exactly the sort of game he would have craved.Let us not relitigate every single one of these decisions in isolation; what is being argued here is a broader direction of travel. For an England fan this is perhaps the part that hurts the most: we believed in this team and these players right to the end. What if Tuchel never really believed in them at all?“Ball possession is not in our DNA like it is in the Spanish DNA or the Argentinian or Brazilian DNA,” Tuchel said after the game. If this was once undeniably true, it is now at best arguable and at worst a form of gaslighting that should disqualify Tuchel from the job on the spot. Rice, Saka, Mainoo, Elliot Anderson, Eze, Reece James, John Stones: based on what we know of them at club level, are these players who have trouble keeping the ball? Perhaps it is no wonder that in subsequent days reports have emerged from the England camp that the players themselves were unhappy with Tuchel’s safety-first approach: an approach that left them with no outlets, no options, no tools except the bluntest of all.These are players who want to play football, who want to express themselves, backed by thousands who emptied their life savings to travel, to pursue, to feel something. This is no longer a nation that punches pitifully below its weight at international level, that neglects the tactical and technical aspects of the game, that quivers at the thought of penalties. Is it unreasonable to demand a coach who sees what these players can do, rather than imagine what they can’t? There are those who argue soberly that changing the coach at this point is a triumph of emotion rather than reason, that there is nobody better out there, that there is a lucrative contract that needs to be honoured.But for a coach hired to win these hinge moments, detonating a World Cup semi-final feels like the ultimate red-flag behaviour. And beyond this the small-mindedness, the absence of ambition, the audacity required to neg the entire English game rather than admit to one’s own cowardice. Tuchel was hired to unleash the considerable potential of a supreme generation of English footballing talent. From what we’ve seen, it’s not immediately clear whether he can even see it.

Football News

Head coach refuses to engage in ‘blame game’ after defeat by ArgentinaTrump joins critics of Tuchel’s tactics in World Cup semi-final eliminationThomas Tuchel has insisted he is not interested in engaging in the “blame game” over England’s World Cup elimination and vowed to close the gap on the leading nations.Even Donald Trump has joined criticism of Tuchel’s tactics in the semi-final defeat by Argentina, with the US president questioning why he made Harry Kane “a defensive player” as England attempted to hold on to a 1-0 lead. But before the third-place playoff against France in Miami on Saturday night that was described by Tuchel as “the match no one wants to play in”, England’s head coach defiantly stood by his decisions and said that he and his players must learn from their experiences.“I believe that three other nations [in the semi-finals] have almost expectations to win the title. This is not us,” said Tuchel. “France, Spain, Argentina expect almost they’re on that level that they expect to win. We are not there yet. There is still a gap to close. This is what we will do from tomorrow. We will not stop. We will not stop hunting. We will not stop challenging. We have things to improve in a football matter. And this is the context. So there is not a lot of room for drama. If drama is needed, if the blame game needs to be played, OK, we can do that. But I have the right to not engage.”Asked whether he had any regrets over his decisions after 48 hours of reflection, Tuchel added: “I felt that we had to do something different for the team, and I took a decision, trusting my instinct, my intuition, my experience, trusting my competitiveness, and I took the decision in order to help the team and get the result. But the decisions are made under stress. The decisions are made in game. I would regret it if we didn’t react. But I have no regrets over the decision itself.”Tuchel also dismissed Trump’s comments that were made earlier during a press conference with the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino. “They took the lead, and they took their best player and put him on defence,” said Trump. “We have got to be a little offensive, right? But no I’m not going to call it. What do I know about coaching? It was unusual.”Tuchel at first questioned whether “you use Donald Trump as your witness?” when asked about his comments. But he was adamant that Kane had merely been following instructions.“We defended in a deep block. That’s what you do if you defend in a block. You defend in a block,” he said. “We were not active enough. We could not escape the deep block. That is what teams build: togetherness and mentality is translated to in football terms. We defend as a 10 and as an 11. Together as a team, the team spirit, the togetherness, the mentality that this team built in the last six and a half weeks, is not to be questioned.”England trained at their Kansas City base for the last time on Friday but their arrival to Miami – the venue for their quarter-final victory over Norway – was delayed by thunderstorms in the area. Jude Bellingham and Jordan Henderson were among the players who were pictured sampling a barbecue on Thursday night. John Stones admitted that it had been hard to process the pain of defeat.“We are still going through a lot of suffering and pain,” he said. “The nature of this game is we as players take things very personally. That’s why we are where we are and why we’re always striving for more. I think everyone felt that [we could win it]. That’s why to go out in a semi-final hurts even more because we believed so much and didn’t get to where we believe we should be.”